The Spurned Opportunities of the Iranian Diaspora

In the absence of an organized left, the Iranian diaspora has largely espoused neoconservative and extremist ideologies. This portends a grim future. What we need instead is a progressive realignment.

February 2023 marked the 44^th anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution. As a kid growing up in Iran, my father often told me that he voted “No” in the 1979 referendum to create the Islamic Republic. Part of a small electorate who rejected the idea of a theocracy, he lamented the fervor with which many of his compatriots participated in the formation of …